


Torn

by islndgurl777



Series: whom the fates have mark'd [2]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, Red String of Fate, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 03:03:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19142260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islndgurl777/pseuds/islndgurl777
Summary: Maria’s chest hurts; she doesn’t want to have this conversation for multiple reasons, but she hates feeling at odds with Alex, so she pushes on.“I know there was a lot going on yesterday, with Rosa and Max and everything, but I wanted to clear the air with you about--”“I know you and Guerin are together now,” Alex blurts, cutting her off. He grips his coffee cup between his hands, and his eyes flicker to hers and away again quickly. “It’s fine.”The ache in her heart grows because she wishes it were true and she’s so glad it’s not at the same time. “What makes you think that?” she asks, trying to catch his eyes again.He shifts in his seat and shrugs, fingers tapping on the sides of his cup. “I passed the Wild Pony yesterday on my way to meet Kyle, saw Guerin’s truck parked out back. Then you were there at the cave, so he must have told you...” He shrugs as he meets her eyes, a bone-deep hurting shining through them.





	Torn

**Author's Note:**

> Half of this has been done for two weeks, but with the school year wrapping up and my job search getting more frantic, I haven't been able to finish it. Now that school's out, I was like, "Damn Crystal, finish that fic and all the others that have been percolating for the last month!" So I spent my Saturday morning/afternoon writing out the second half. That part has definitely not been looked over as much as the first half, so there may be a little difference in quality between the two parts. Also, I found it really difficult to channel Rosa, so that made it difficult too. LMK what you think...
> 
> Title from Natalie Imbruglia. Unbeta'd.

They’re supposed to meet at Max’s by 10 to discuss how they’re going to explain Rosa’s resurrection to the town, among other things, but Maria wants some time alone with Alex first, so she heads over to his place earlier with two coffees and a bag of donuts. After she knocks, she hears him make his way to the door and wait a very long moment before opening it. “Maria,” he says, and he’s wearing the most fake smile she’s ever seen in her life. “I thought we were meeting in a little while. Is anything wrong?”

 

She lets out a shuddering breath and nods once. “Can I come in?” she asks, holding up her offerings with a small smile.

 

His eyebrows go up in surprise but he steps back and waves her in, leading her to his small kitchen table. They distribute the donuts between themselves and doctor their coffees, all without saying anything. Maria’s chest hurts; she doesn’t want to have this conversation for multiple reasons, but she hates feeling at odds with Alex, so she pushes on.

 

“I know there was a lot going on yesterday, with Rosa and Max and everything, but I wanted to clear the air with you about--”

 

“I know you and Guerin are together now,” Alex blurts, cutting her off. He grips his coffee cup between his hands, and his eyes flicker to hers and away again quickly. “It’s fine.”

 

The ache in her heart grows because she wishes it were true and she’s so glad it’s not at the same time. “What makes you think that?” she asks, trying to catch his eyes again.

 

He shifts in his seat and shrugs, fingers tapping on the sides of his cup. “I passed the Wild Pony yesterday on my way to meet Kyle, saw Guerin’s truck parked out back. Then you were there at the cave, so he must have told you...” He shrugs as he meets her eyes, a bone-deep hurting shining through them. 

 

Another pang hits her in the heart because he’s lying to her, or at least omitting something, and she hates that he feels he has to protect himself from  _ her _ . “Actually he was there to play guitar. I don’t know if you noticed, but his hand has been healed,” she corrects, studying him closely.

 

Alex’s face twists to convey several emotions--guilt, regret, sadness, confusion--and he says softly, “Oh.”

 

Maria nods, letting out a relieved breath because she can feel something has eased between them. She says, “I told you, it’s not going to happen again, me and him. Texas was a one-time thing.”

 

He meets her eyes and exhales slowly. “But you like him. A lot.”

 

She nods slowly and says, “That’s kind of part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Have you ever heard legends about the strings of fate?”

 

She tells him what they are, and how they connect people who are meant to be important to each other. She tells him about the different colors, and how the colors sometimes change. She tells him the strings never go away unless someone dies, but even then there’s still a bracelet of leftover thread as a reminder of the person they lost, and that’s how she knew about Max and Rosa.  _ That’s _ why she was at the cave the day before, and how she found out about the aliens.

 

“I love you, Alex. We’ve shared a blue string for almost twenty-five years now. I would never knowingly do anything to hurt you. You know that, right?” She reaches across the table and takes his hands in hers, squeezes them until he nods. “There’s something else I need to tell you, but before I do, I want to ask you a question, and I really want you to think about it, okay?” She waits for him to nod again before she says, “What do you think about Max and Liz’s relationship?”

 

Alex rears back and shakes his head. “What?”

 

She smiles and squeezes his hands again. “Just answer the question, Manes. Think about what they’ve been like since elementary school, all the way up until yesterday in the cave.”

 

He gives her a skeptical look, but his eyes flicker as he looks back on his memories of the two of them. “I think he’s been in love with her as long as he’s known her. I think she’s always been drawn to him, always liked him. I was positive something would happen between them by the time we graduated, but then Rosa…” He trails off and shrugs. “And he risked everything to save her life. She’s moved heaven and earth to help him and his family. He nearly died to bring her sister back to life.” He shrugs again and meets her eyes. “It’s love, obviously, but that somehow doesn’t seem to cover the depth and scope of it. Soulmates, maybe? If you believe in that kind of thing?” His face is scrunched up in skepticism as he says it.

 

Maria’s lips quirk in a wry smile, because she has had the same thought, and hearing Alex confirm it like that breaks her heart a little more. She shakes her head. “I didn’t, not really. But Max, Michael, and Isobel each have a gold string, which I’ve never seen anywhere else before, and Max’s has always lead straight to Liz.”

 

Alex sucks in a breath and his fingers twitch in hers. She grips him tighter when she can feel him start to pull away from her. “Maria…” he says, shaking his head. “I don’t.” He breathes in and out slowly, staring down at the table, and then he looks up to meet her eyes. “You think the gold string means soulmates?”

 

She shrugs, trying to be nonchalant, but she can feel the tension in her shoulders and she knows Alex must see it. “I think all of the strings mean people will have an important connection. You were the one that used the word ‘soulmates’,” she points out lightly.

 

He rolls his eyes and lets out another slow breath, eyes focused down at the table between them. He squeezes her fingers and she squeezes back, willing him to ask. Because if he does, it means he already knew, and if he already knew, Maria never really had a chance. Selfishly, she doesn’t want it, but she kind of needs that confirmation before she’ll be able to start moving on. 

 

Finally, he looks up at her again and says slowly, “Guerin’s gold string.” He shakes her hand free so he can wrap it around his other wrist, where she’d indicated the strings are wrapped around him.

 

She nods once, the confirmation making her heart ache again, and pulls his hand toward her, shifting his fingers around so they are pressing on the gold string together. It glows faintly, and Alex’s steady breathing stutters and his eyes fill with tears. “Maria,” he chokes out.

 

Before she can respond, his phone rings and he pulls away from her to look at the screen. He stands up, brow furrowed. “It’s Guerin,” he says, starting to pace around the room as he answers it. “Hey. Is something--”

 

He freezes and turns to look at Maria, his whole body tensing. “No, I’m fine. Are  _ you _ okay?” He listens, and his eyes flicker back and forth as he assimilates whatever it is Guerin’s telling him. Finally his shoulders drop a little and he shakes his head. “Maria’s here. I’ll get a ride with her.”

 

She holds her breath, her whole body leaning toward him, desperate to know what Michael’s saying on the other end of the line, but she knows it’s not her place to ask.

 

There’s another long pause while Alex listens, and then his eyes lock with hers again. “Yes. Why?” He looks pained, and his voice is quiet when he says, “Yes.” He’s quiet for a moment again before he clears his throat and says, “Look, Guerin, can we talk about this later? Now’s not really the best time--” He looks panicked, even raises his free hand in a sign for ‘stop’ and starts shaking his head. “Guerin. Gue--.” He pulls the phone from his ear to look down at his home screen. He sighs and rubs his hand over his eyes. “I hate this.”

 

Tears spring to Maria’s eyes and she shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, Alex. I didn’t--”

 

“No, hey, Maria.” Alex comes around the table to cup her face in his hands. “That’s not what I meant,” he says with a sigh, licking his lips. “Am I happy about the fact that we’re in love with the same guy? No, that fucking sucks.” She lets out a watery laugh and he smiles down at her, thumbs rubbing her tears away. “But you can’t control your feelings, DeLuca, and I would never blame you for having them.”

 

She nods and leans into his hand a little more. “What did you mean then?”

 

His lips quirk and he shakes his head with a wry smile. “Just that I hate that even after all these years, I’m still saying the wrong things to him.”

 

“That’s not a one-sided thing, though. Guerin’s terrible at communication too,” she says wryly. “All the secrets and lies, the cocky front he puts up. He’s almost never open about who he really is.” And that makes her heart hurt too, because she’d thought she knew him at least a little. How could she love someone she didn’t even know?

 

Her feelings of naivety and shame must reflect on her face because Alex sighs and sits down again, shaking his head. “You know enough. You know his intelligence, and his compassion, and his loyalty, and his...goodness.” He gives her a half smile and a shrug. “I fell in love with him on less. Who’s the real idiot here?”

 

She snorts inelegantly and wipes her at eyes, laughing. She reaches over to grip his hand again and when he squeezes softly, she thinks,  _ we’re going to be okay _ .

 

///

 

Rosa’s out on the patio when they pull up, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She runs over to hug Maria as soon as she gets out of the truck. “Thank God you’re here. I feel like I’m going crazy with these two.”

 

Maria squeezes her tight, turning her head into Rosa’s neck and choking back a sob when she inhales her scent. “Sorry. I would have taken you home with me, but Max’s place is more isolated, and I don’t think Liz wanted you out of her sight.”

 

Rosa pulls back and widens her eyes. “I know. She made me sleep next to them all. Night.” Her gaze shifts over to Alex, who is leaning on the hood across from them, frowning. “What’s up, rock star? You look like you’re staring at a dead woman.”

 

Alex blinks, then his mouth turns up in a smile as he shakes his head and makes his way around to pull her into a hug. “I forgot you used to call me that.”

 

She pulls away from him, brow furrowed, and says, “Yeah, but isn’t that what you are now? A big time rock star, who left Roswell after graduation and went to L.A. and made it in the music industry?” She bites her lip and her nose scrunches. “Who sometimes goes back home to Roswell, New Mexico to hang out with the local alien population?”

 

Alex’s grin turns wry and he shakes his head. “You missed a lot, Rosa.”

 

“You mean when I was dead?” she says, raising an eyebrow. 

 

Maria’s breath shudders out of her and she shakes her head. “Please stop saying that, I can’t…” She buries her head in her hands, and seconds later she’s sandwiched between the two of them, comforting hands rubbing her back and arms.

 

“Sorry,” she hears Rosa say quietly, and Maria just nods into her shoulder, a few tears dripping into Rosa’s hair.

 

Maria pulls back to look into her eyes and shrugs. “It’s been a weird couple of days.”

 

Alex snorts and shakes his head; she can feel his lips skim across her hair. “Try a weird couple of months.”

 

Rosa sighs and says, “I know I literally just apologized for talking like this, but I feel like I have to counter your point with: it’s been a weird decade, okay?”

 

Maria’s heart stutters in her chest again as Rosa says it, but she laughs even as a few more tears escape to trail down her cheeks. “Okay, you win. The weirdest decade award goes to Rosa Ortecho.”

 

Rosa smiles widely and nods. “Thank you.” Her eyes narrow and she turns to the back door of Max’s house, which Maria is just now realizing is missing.

 

“What happened there?” Maria asks, just as they hear Liz’s panicked, “Rosa!” from inside the house.

 

Liz comes running out through the frame where the door should be with Max following close behind. Both have wet hair, and while Liz is fully dressed, Max is shirtless, hovering a little behind her. “I told you she was fine,” he says, reaching out to rub his hand down her arm.

 

Liz nods and raises her other hand to cover his on her arm. “Yeah, you did.” She leans into him as he steps forward to kiss her cheek and murmur something in her ear, then nods and steps closer to their group as Max heads back inside. “Hey,” she says to them, and she reaches out to touch Rosa’s arm, her hand dropping away almost as soon as she makes physical contact.

 

Rosa rolls her eyes but steps away from Maria to stand flush with Liz, whose whole body relaxes again as she does so. “Is everything okay?” Liz asks as she looks at Maria, whose eyes are probably red, then over at Alex, who still has an arm around her.

 

Alex looks down at Maria then back at Liz and Rosa. “Just Rosa being her usual charming self,” he says with a shrug, giving Maria a quick, comforting squeeze.

 

Maria smiles and leans a little further into him. “Yeah, I just got overwhelmed for a second. This has been a lot to take in.”

 

“And you’re not even the one with an alien-in-law,” Rosa says, bumping Liz with her hip.

 

Liz blushes and bumps her back. “Oh my God, Rosa, I told you a million times: stop calling him that! We’re not married yet!”

 

“Yet?” Maria and Alex yell, both of them fighting grins.

 

“Yet,” Rosa echoes, pointing triumphantly at Liz, who is covering her whole face with her hands.

 

“Oh my God,” Liz says again, shaking her head.

 

Before the good-natured ribbing can continue, they all turn as they hear a truck driving up the road in the distance and watch the dust kick up around it. They all tense up, and Alex drops his arm from around Maria to step protectively in front of all of them. The truck is still a little too far away to be sure, and it’s obscured by plants and dust, so Maria glances down at her wrist and can see two of her strings leading in the direction of the dust trail. “It’s Michael and Isobel,” she assures them.

 

Liz relaxes and Rosa crosses her arms over her chest, while Alex turns to face her, brow furrowed. “What?” she asks, suddenly filled with dread, though she can’t pinpoint exactly why. He studies her for a long moment, head tilted to the side, and she crosses her arms too. “What?” she says again, defensive.

 

He shakes his head and says, “I know how you know it’s Michael, but how’d you know Isobel is with him?”

 

Her jaw drops and she sucks in a breath, shaking her head in automatic denial. “I…I…” She shakes her head again. How could she have been so  _ stupid _ ? Almost thirty years keeping all of these secrets, and she’s going to blow them all in one day?

 

Alex shakes his head and says, “Nevermind.” His eyes continue to study her speculatively as they wait for the truck to pull up, and she gets the feeling he doesn’t need her to answer aloud because he already knows.  _ Shit _ .

 

“What was that about?” Rosa asks, gaze sliding between the two of them. It settles on Maria. “What makes you so sure it’s Guerin and Regina George?”

 

Liz, brow furrowed in confusion, says, “Maria could tell it was his truck, obviously.”

 

Maria shakes her head, and at this point, Michael’s truck is pulling up next to Maria’s. “No, that’s not it. And it will be easier to tell you once everyone’s here and we get this meeting going. It’s too much to explain again, when I’ve already done it twice in the last two days.”

 

Michael and Isobel exit the truck, the former looking tentatively between Alex and Maria as he approaches the group. Isobel walks next to him, arm brushing his every step, bottom lip held between her teeth.

 

Before either of them can say anything, Liz nods to Isobel and says quietly, “How are you?”

 

Isobel startles, her teeth parting to free her lip. She opens her mouth to answer, shoulders rising up in defense, and Michael nudges her with his elbow, hard. She closes her mouth, swallows, and takes a slow breath. “I’ve been better,” she finally says, voice rough. Michael nudges her again, so she clears her throat before she rolls her eyes and says, “Thank you for asking.”

 

Liz glances over at Michael, lips twitching, and though he only shrugs, Maria can see slight crinkles next to his eyes, which shine with mirth. Liz fights down her smile and says, “You’re welcome.”

 

Rosa rolls her eyes and says, “Oh my God, if this is what family gatherings are going to be like from now on, I wish Max would have left me dead.”

 

The tension surrounding the group shifts from awkward to a combination of horrified and amused, gasps, whines, and chuckles filling the air around them. Liz starts to lecture Rosa about her inappropriate humor as they move inside to wait for Kyle. Maria makes brief eye contact with Alex and Michael and she nods to them, both acknowledgement and permission. Her eyes slide right past Isobel and she fights not to shiver as she feels her stare boring into her back as she follows the Ortecho sisters inside. This is going to be an interesting gathering.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to find me on tumblr, I'm under the same name: islndgurl777.


End file.
